Jain Journal 2005 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 25

JAIN JOURNAL : VOL-L. VO. 2OCTOBER 2005
his name and many caritus or biographies were composed by his devoted followers for the preservation of his memory.
Among the biographies of the last śruta-kevalin Bhadrabāhu the earliest is the "Bhadrabāhu Kathanuka" which forms the one hundred thirty first chapter of Brhatkathcīkoşa of Harişeņa. Regarding Bhadrabāhu's native place, parentage as well as his first acquaintance with the fourth śrutakevali of the Nirganthas (Jainas) the account of Harisena runs as follows: "There was a town named Kottapura which is now known as Devakotta in Pundravardhana country. King Padmaratha was the ruler of the realm. Somaśarmā, a brahmin proficient in four Vedas was the royal priest whose wife was Somasri - a beautiful lady. The Brahmin couple had a weil-intentioned and good looking son named Bhadrabāhu. After his initiation to brahminhood, Bhadrabāhu was playing with his play-mates on the outskirt of Devakotta when Govardhana the fourth śrutakevalin happened to see him." On seeing him Govardhana perceived that the boy was destined to be the last srutakevlin, took care of him and made him his disciple with the consent of his parents. In course of time Govardhana ordained Bhadrabāhu to monkhood and made him the head of the church of the Nirgranthas (Jainas). The story of the parentage, early boyhood and ordination of Bhadrabāhu as narrated by Harisena, more than a thousand years after the demise of the great patriarch possess little or no historical value but the story has a great significance of its own.
Before narrating this significance let us digress a little to peep into the mystrey of Jaina History of ancient Bengal. It is really a mystrey that the Jainas in their golden days in Bengal had no royal support behind them. During the Pre-Chirstian and early Christian centuries, the Nirgranthas (Jainas) in Bengal far out-distanced other religious sects like the Buddhists and Brahmanical Hindu sects in popularity. But no royal house stood for them. No votive or donative inscriptions of any royal dynasty have so far been discovered in Bengal. The sole epigraphic evidence that has come to light is the Pahadpur Inscription dated 478/79 A.D. which speaks of the private donation made by a Brahmin couple for the maintenance of a Jaina Vihāra at Vatagohali.